Systems and methods for modifying image distortion (curvature) for viewing distance in post capture

ABSTRACT

Systems and methods for modifying image distortion (curvature) for viewing distance in post capture. Presentation of imaging content on a content display device may be characterized by a presentation field of view (FOV). Presentation FOV may be configured based on screen dimensions of the display device and distance between the viewer and the screen. Imaging content may be obtained by an activity capture device characterized by a wide capture field of view lens (e.g., fish-eye). Images may be transformed into rectilinear representation for viewing. When viewing images using presentation FOV that may narrower than capture FOV, transformed rectilinear images may appear distorted. A transformation operation may be configured to account for presentation FOV-capture FOV mismatch. In some implementations, the transformation may include fish-eye to rectilinear transformation characterized by a transformation strength that may be configured based on a ratio of the presentation FOV to the capture FOV.

COPYRIGHT

A portion of the disclosure of this patent document contains materialthat is subject to copyright protection. The copyright owner has noobjection to the facsimile reproduction by anyone of the patent documentor the patent disclosure, as it appears in the Patent and TrademarkOffice patent files or records, but otherwise reserves all copyrightrights whatsoever.

BACKGROUND OF THE DISCLOSURE Field of the Disclosure

The present disclosure relates generally to presenting image and/orvideo content and more particularly in one exemplary aspect to modifyingimage curvature for viewing distance in post capture.

Description of Related Art

Activity capture devices (e.g., GoPro activity cameras) may include alens characterized by a wide field of view (FOV) and/or high curvature.Such lens may be referred to as fish-eye. Images captured with afish-eye lens may appear distorted when viewed on a television (TV)and/or portable device.

SUMMARY

In one aspect of the disclosure, a system for providing images ofimaging content may comprise an electronic storage, a communicationsinterface, one or more processors, and/or other components. Theelectronic storage may be configured to store the imaging content and/orother information. The communications interface may be configured tocommunicate a bit stream and/or other information to a client device.The client device may include a display. The processor(s) may beconfigured to execute a plurality of computer readable instructionsconfigured to (1) access the imaging content characterized by a capturefield of view and a capture projection; (2) determine a presentationfield of view associated with displaying the images of the imagingcontent on the display; (3) obtain a transformation operation configuredto transform the images of the imaging content from the captureprojection based on the capture field of view and the presentation fieldof view; and (4) transform the images of the imaging content forpresentation on the display using the transformation operation.

In some implementations, the capture projection may include a fish eyeprojection and/or other projections. In some implementations, thepresentation field of view may be determined based on dimensions of thedisplay and a viewing distance between the display and a user. In someimplementations, the viewing distance between the display and the usermay be determined based on sensor information generated by a sensor. Insome implementations, the sensor may include a proximity sensor, a lightsensor, and/or other sensors. In some implementations, the viewingdistance between the display and the user may be determined based on atypical viewing distance associated with a type of the client deviceand/or other information. In some implementations, the transformationoperation may account for a mismatch between the capture field of viewand the presentation field of view. In some implementations, thetransformation operation may include a curve-to-rectilineartransformation based on a match between the capture field of view andthe presentation field of view.

In one aspect of the disclosure, a method may transform images ofimaging content. The method may comprise (1) obtaining an image capturefield of view using a metadata portion of the imaging content; (2)determining a dimension of a display of a content display device; (3)obtaining a viewing distance between the display and a user using sensorinformation; (4) obtaining a viewing field of view based on the viewingdistance and the dimension of the display; and (5) obtaining an imagetransformation operation to transform the images of the imaging contentfrom an image source projection based on the capture field of view andthe viewing field of view.

In some implementations, the image transformation operation may reduceapparent motion within the images of the imaging content. In someimplementations, the image transformation operation may be applied tothe images of the imaging content by a server. In some implementations,the image transformation operation may be applied to the images of theimaging content by a camera or a smartphone. In some implementations,the image transformation operation may be applied to the images of theimaging content in real-time as a function of the viewing distancebetween the display and the user. In some implementations, the imagetransformation operation may include a first image transformationoperation obtained based on a first viewing field of view and a secondimage transformation operation obtained based on a second viewing fieldof view.

In one aspect of the disclosure, a portable content display system maycomprise a display, a communications interface, one or more processors,and/or other components. The processor(s) may be configured to execute aplurality of computer readable instructions configured to: (1) access asource image of imaging content via the communications interface; (2)obtain a capture field of view of the source image; (3) obtaindimensions of the display; (4) obtain a presentation field of view basedon a viewing distance between the display and a user and the dimensionsof the display; (5) obtain an image transformation to transform thesource image from a capture projection to a display projection, theimage transformation configured based on the capture field of view andthe presentation field of view; and (6) obtain a transformed image basedon applying the image transformation to the source image.

In some implementations, the image transformation may be configuredbased on a ratio of the capture field of view to the presentation fieldof view. In some implementations, the imaging content may include avideo or a sequence of images. In some implementations, the capturefield of view may be obtained based on curvature information of anoptical element used to capture the imaging content. In someimplementations, the curvature information may include coefficients of apolynomial representation characterizing a curvature of the opticalelement. In some implementations, the curvature information may bestored in metadata of the imaging content.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1A is a graphical illustration depicting field of view of a capturedevice, in accordance with one implementation.

FIG. 1B is a functional block diagram illustrating a capture device usedfor content capture in, e.g., system of FIG. 1A in accordance with oneimplementation.

FIG. 2A illustrates presentation field view for a variety of contentdisplay configurations, in accordance with some implementation.

FIG. 2B is a graphical illustration depicting determination of a viewingdistance for obtaining the presentation field of view in accordance withone implementation.

FIG. 3 is a functional block diagram illustrating a system for providingcontent in accordance with one implementation.

FIG. 4 is a plot depicting image transformation to rectilinearrepresentation in accordance with one implementation.

FIGS. 5A-5B are simulated images depicting distortion for differentimage representations in accordance with one implementation.

FIGS. 6A-6F are simulated images depicting distortion for differentimage representations and presentation field of view, in accordance withsome implementation.

FIG. 7 is a logical flow diagram illustrating a method of image contentpresentation using image transformation methodology of the disclosure,in accordance with one implementation.

FIGS. 8A-8C are logical flow diagram illustrating methods for obtainingtransformation of image content based on presentation field of view, inaccordance with one implementation.

FIG. 9A is a functional block diagram illustrating a computerizedcontent display system configured to implement image transformationmethodology of the disclosure, in accordance with one implementation.

FIG. 9B is a functional block diagram illustrating a computerizedcontent presentation system configured to implement image transformationmethodology of the disclosure, in accordance with one implementation.

FIG. 10 illustrates lens and sensor configuration of an activity captureapparatus of, e.g., FIGS. 1A-1B, in accordance with someimplementations.

FIG. 11 is a plot depicting simulated image edge motion as a function ofcapture field of view in accordance with some implementations.

All Figures disclosed herein are © Copyright 2017 GoPro Inc. All rightsreserved.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Implementations of the present technology will now be described indetail with reference to the drawings, which are provided asillustrative examples so as to enable those skilled in the art topractice the technology. Notably, the figures and examples below are notmeant to limit the scope of the present disclosure to a singleimplementation or implementation, but other implementations andimplementations are possible by way of interchange of or combinationwith some or all of the described or illustrated elements. Whereverconvenient, the same reference numbers will be used throughout thedrawings to refer to same or like parts.

Systems and methods for modifying image distortion (curvature) forviewing distance in post capture. Presentation of imaging content on acontent display device may be characterized by a presentation field ofview. Presentation field of view (FOV) may be configured based on screendimensions of the display device and distance between the viewer and thescreen. Imaging content may be obtained by an activity capture devicecharacterized by a wide capture field of view lens (e.g., fish-eye).Images may be transformed into rectilinear representation for viewing.When viewing images using presentation FOV that may narrower thancapture FOV, transformed rectilinear images may appear distorted. Atransformation operation may be configured to account for presentationFOV-capture FOV mismatch. In some implementations, the transformationmay include fish-eye to rectilinear transformation characterized by atransformation strength that may be configured based on a relationship(e.g., a ratio, etc.) between the presentation FOV and the capture FOV.In one or more implementations, the transformation may be configured toconvert source image from one curvature (e.g., capture curvature) totarget curvature based on source FOV and presentation FOV.

FIG. 1A illustrates configuration of a field of view of a captureapparatus configured to capture imaging content for an activity, inaccordance with one implementation. The system 100 of FIG. 1A mayinclude a capture apparatus 130, e.g., such as GoPro action camera,e.g., HERO4 Silver, HERO 4 Session, and/or other capture device. In someimplementations, the capture apparatus 130 may comprise a video cameradevice, such as described in, e.g., U.S. patent application Ser. No.14/920,427 entitled “APPARATUS AND METHODS FOR EMBEDDING METADATA INTOVIDEO STREAM” filed on 22 Oct. 2015, the foregoing being incorporatedherein by reference in its entirety. The capture apparatus 130 mayinclude one or more optical components 110 that may include by way ofnon-limiting example, one or more of standard lens, macro lens, zoomlens, special-purpose lens, telephoto lens, prime lens, achromatic lens,apochromatic lens, process lens, wide-angle lens, ultra-wide-angle lens,fish-eye lens, infrared lens, ultraviolet lens, perspective controllens, other lens, and/or other optical element. The optical element 110may be optically coupled to an imaging sensor. In some implementations,the capture device may include two optical components (e.g., including alens and imaging sensors) that are disposed in a Janus configuration,e.g., back to back such as described in U.S. patent application Ser. No.29/548,661, entitled “MULTI-LENS CAMERA” filed on 15 Dec. 2015, theforegoing being incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.

The capture apparatus 130 may be configured to obtain imaging content(e.g., images and/or video) over a field of view that may include one ormore objects, e.g., 122 in FIG. 1A. In some implementations, the capturedevice may be configured to obtain imaging content for 180°×360° fieldof view. Content acquired with such field of view may be referred to aspanoramic or spherical content, e.g., as described in U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 14/949,786, entitled “APPARATUS AND METHODS FORIMAGE ALIGNMENT” filed on 23 Nov. 2015, and/or U.S. patent applicationSer. No. 14/927,343, entitled “APPARATUS AND METHODS FOR ROLLING SHUTTERCOMPENSATION FOR MULTI-CAMERA SYSTEMS”, filed 29 Oct. 2015, each of theforegoing being incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.

As used herein, term field of view (FOV) may be used to describe angleof view of an optical component (e.g., lens and imaging sensor). If arectangular imaging sensor is used, the FOV may refer to a horizontal,vertical, and/or diagonal angular measurement unless specifiedotherwise. Term field of view at capture and/or capture field of view(FOV_C) may be used to describe view angle of image capture device(e.g., camera lens and sensor). Term field of view at presentationand/or viewing field of view (FOV_P) may be used to describe view angleof user viewing imaging content on a display device.

The capture apparatus 130 may be characterized longitudinal andlatitudinal field of view, denoted by curves 104, 114 respectively. Insome implementations wherein the capture apparatus 130 may be disposedwith longer dimension being horizontal, the longitudinal FOV_C maycorrespond to horizontal FOV_C; the latitudinal FOV_C may correspond tovertical FOV_C. In one or more implementations, FOV_C 104 of apparatus130 may be configured at 120°; FOV_C 114 may be configured at 90°. Lines108, 106, 118, 116 in FIG. 1A denote extents of the longitudinal andlatitudinal FOV_C, respectively.

In some implementations, the optical element 110 may include a lens thatmay be characterized by what is referred to as fish-eye pattern andproduce images characterized by fish-eye (or near-fish-eye) field ofview (FOV). Various fish-eye lens curvatures may be utilizes, e.g., suchas equidistant fisheye, stereographic fish-eye, orthographic fisheye,equisolid fish-eye, e.g., as expressed by Eqn. 1, Eqn. 2, Eqn. 3, Eqn.4, respectively. In Eqn. 1, Eqn. 2, Eqn. 3, Eqn. 4, theta denotes theangle in rad between a point in the real world and the optical axis,which goes from the center of the image through the center of the lens,f is the focal length of the lens and R is radial position of a point onthe image on the film or sensor. It will be recognized by those skilledin the arts that various other wide angle of view/field of view lensimplementations may be utilized. In some implementations, opticalelement of a capture apparatus (e.g., 130) may be characterized by acurvature that may be expressed as a polynomial.Equidistant fisheye R˜f×(theta)   (Eqn. 1)Stereographic R˜2×f×tan(theta/2)   (Eqn. 2)Orthographic R˜f×sin(theta)   (Eqn. 3)Equidisolid R˜2×f×sin(theta/2)   (Eqn. 4)

The capture apparatus 130 may house one or more internal metadatasources, e.g., video, inertial measurement unit, global positioningsystem (GPS) receiver component and/or other metadata source. In someimplementations, the capture apparatus 130 may comprise a devicedescribed in detail in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 14/920,427,entitled “APPARATUS AND METHODS FOR EMBEDDING METADATA INTO VIDEOSTREAM” filed on 22 Oct. 2015, incorporated supra.

The capture apparatus 130 may include one or more image sensorsincluding, by way of non-limiting example, one or more of charge-coupleddevice (CCD) sensor, active pixel sensor (APS), complementarymetal-oxide semiconductor (CMOS) sensor, N-typemetal-oxide-semiconductor (NMOS) sensor, and/or other image sensor. Thecapture apparatus 130 may include one or more microphones configured toprovide audio information that may be associated with images beingacquired by the image sensor.

The capture apparatus 130 may be interfaced to an external metadatasource (e.g., GPS receiver, cycling computer, metadata puck, and/orother device configured to provide information related to system 100and/or its environment) via a remote link. In one or moreimplementations, the remote link may utilize any practical wirelessinterface configuration, e.g., WiFi, Bluetooth (BT), cellular data link,ZigBee, near field communications (NFC) link, e.g., using ISO/IEC 14443protocol, ANT+ link, and/or other wireless communications link. In someimplementations, the remote link may be effectuated using a wiredinterface, e.g., HDMI, USB, digital video interface, display portinterface (e.g., digital display interface developed by the VideoElectronics Standards Association (VESA), Ethernet, Thunderbolt), and/orother interface.

The capture apparatus 130 may interface to an external user interfacedevice 120 via a remote connection 112. In some implementations, theuser interface device 120 may correspond to a smartphone, a tabletcomputer, a phablet, a smart watch, a portable computer, and/or otherdevice configured to receive user input and communicate information withthe capture apparatus 130. In one or more implementations, the remote112 connection to the user interface device may be configured to utilizeany practical wireless interface configuration, e.g., WiFi, Bluetooth(BT), cellular data link, ZigBee, near field communications (NFC) link,e.g., using ISO/IEC 14443 protocol, ANT+ link, and/or other wirelesscommunications link. In some implementations, the remote connection 112may be effectuated using a wired interface, e.g., HDMI, USB, digitalvideo interface, display port interface (e.g., digital display interfacedeveloped by the Video Electronics Standards Association (VESA),Ethernet, Thunderbolt), and/or other interface.

The metadata obtained by the capture apparatus 130 may be incorporatedinto the combined multimedia stream using any applicable methodologiesincluding those described in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 14/920,427entitled “APPARATUS AND METHODS FOR EMBEDDING METADATA INTO VIDEOSTREAM” filed on 22 Oct. 2015, incorporated supra. In someimplementations, the combined multimedia stream may include informationrelated to the optical element of the capture device (e.g., polynomialcoefficients describing curvature of the element 110). Lenscharacteristics (e.g., curvature) may be obtained during manufacturingof the element 110 and/or apparatus 130. In some implementations, thelens element may be characterized on a per unit basis (e.g., individualunits characterized by a given set of coefficients); in one or moreimplementations, the lens element may be characterized on a nominalper-model basis (e.g., one set of coefficients covering all units of agiven model/design).

The user interface device 120 may operate a software application (e.g.,GoPro Studio, GoPro App, and/or other application) configured to performa variety of operations related to camera configuration, control ofvideo acquisition, and/or display of video captured by the captureapparatus 130. An application (e.g., GoPro App) may enable a user tocreate short video clips and share clips to a cloud service (e.g.,Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, Dropbox); perform full remote control ofapparatus 130 functions, live preview video being captured for shotframing, mark key moments while recording (e.g., with HiLight Tag, ViewHiLight Tags in GoPro Camera Roll) for location and/or playback of videohighlights, wirelessly control camera software, and/or perform otherfunctions. Various methodologies may be utilized for configuring thecapture apparatus 130 and/or displaying the captured information,including those described in U.S. Pat. No. 8,606,073, entitled“BROADCAST MANAGEMENT SYSTEM”, issued Dec. 10, 2013, the foregoing beingincorporated herein by reference in its entirety.

By way of an illustration, the user interface device 120 may receiveuser setting characterizing image resolution (e.g., 3840 pixels by 2160pixels), frame rate (e.g., 60 frames per second (fps)), and/or othersettings (e.g., location) related to the activity (e.g., mountainbiking) being captured. The user interface device 120 may communicatethe settings to the capture apparatus 130.

A user may utilize the user interface device 120 to view contentacquired by the capture apparatus 130. Display of the user interfacedevice 120 may be characterized by longitudinal (horizontal) andlatitudinal (vertical) dimensions. In some implementations, wherein theuser interface device 120 may correspond to a smartphone, screendimensions may be configured as about 90 mm by 50 mm, 104 mm×59 mm, 122mm×68 mm. Content viewing on the user interface device 120 by a user maybe characterized by a viewing distance. Viewing distance may be between200 mm and 600 mm, 300 mm in some implementations. Viewing distance andpresentation FOV are discussed in further detail with respect to FIGS.2A-3.

In some implementations, the capture apparatus 130 may include a displayconfigured to provide information related to camera operation mode(e.g., image resolution, frame rate, capture mode (sensor, video,photo), connection status (connected, wireless, wired connection), powermode (e.g., standby, sensor mode, video mode), information related tometadata sources (e.g., heart rate, GPS), and/or other information. Thecapture apparatus 130 may include a user interface component (e.g., oneor more buttons) configured to enable user to start, stop, pause, resumesensor and/or content capture. User commands may be encoded using avariety of approaches including but not limited to duration of buttonpress (pulse width modulation), number of button presses (pulse codemodulation) and/or a combination thereof. By way of an illustration, twoshort button presses may initiate sensor acquisition mode described indetail elsewhere; single short button press may be used to (i)communicate initiation of video and/or photo capture and cessation ofvideo and/or photo capture (toggle mode); or (ii) video and/or photocapture for a given time duration or number of frames (burst capture).It will be recognized by those skilled in the arts that various usercommand communication implementations may be realized, e.g., short/longbutton presses.

FIG. 1B illustrates one implementation of the capture apparatus 130configured for collecting content and/or metadata. The capture apparatus130 may include one or more processors 132 (such as system on a chip(SOC), microcontroller, microprocessor, CPU, DSP, ASIC, GPU, and/orother processors) that control the operation and functionality of thecapture apparatus 130. In some implementations, the capture apparatus130 in FIG. 1B may correspond to an activity camera configured tocapture photo, video and/or audio content.

The capture apparatus 130 may include an optics module 134. In one ormore implementations, the optics module 134 may include, by way ofnon-limiting example, one or more of standard lens, macro lens, zoomlens, special-purpose lens, telephoto lens, prime lens, achromatic lens,apochromatic lens, process lens, wide-angle lens, ultra-wide-angle lens,fish-eye lens, infrared lens, ultraviolet lens, perspective controllens, other lens, and/or other optics component. In some implementationsthe optics module 134 may implement focus controller functionalityconfigured to control the operation and configuration of the cameralens. The optics module 134 may receive light from an object and couplereceived light to an image sensor 136. The image sensor 136 may include,by way of non-limiting example, one or more of charge-coupled devicesensor, active pixel sensor, complementary metal-oxide semiconductorsensor, N-type metal-oxide-semiconductor sensor, and/or other imagesensor. The image sensor 136 may be configured to capture light wavesgathered by the optics module 134 and to produce image(s) data based oncontrol signals from the sensor controller 140. Optics module 134 maycomprise focus controller configured to control the operation andconfiguration of the lens. The image sensor may be configured togenerate a first output signal conveying first visual informationregarding the object. The visual information may include, by way ofnon-limiting example, one or more of an image, a video, and/or othervisual information. The optical element, and the first image sensor maybe embodied in a housing.

In some implementations, the image sensor module 136 may include withoutlimitation, video, audio, capacitive, radio, vibrational, ultrasonic,infrared sensors, radar, LIDAR and/or sonar, and/or other sensorydevices.

The capture apparatus 130 may include one or more audio components(e.g., microphone(s) embodied within the camera (e.g., 142)).Microphones may provide audio content information.

The capture apparatus 130 may include a sensor controller module 140.The module 140 may be used to operate the image sensor 136. Thecontroller may receive image or video input from the image sensor 136;audio information from one or more microphones, such as 142. In someimplementations, audio information may be encoded using e.g., AAC, AC3,MP3, linear PCM, MPEG-H and or other audio coding format (audio codec).In one or more implementations of spherical video and/or audio, theaudio codec may comprise a 3-dimensional audio codec, e.g., Ambisonics.

The capture apparatus 130 may include one or more metadata modulesembodied (e.g., 144) within the camera housing and/or disposedexternally to the camera. The processor 132 may interface to the sensorcontroller and/or one or more metadata modules 144. Metadata module 144may include sensors such as an inertial measurement unit (IMU) includingone or more accelerometers and/or gyroscopes, a magnetometer, a compass,a global positioning system (GPS) sensor, an altimeter, ambient lightsensor, temperature sensor, and/or other sensors. The capture apparatus130 may contain one or more other metadata/telemetry sources, e.g.,image sensor parameters, battery monitor, storage parameters, and/orother information related to camera operation and/or capture of content.Metadata module 144 may obtain information related to environment of thecapture device and aspect in which the content is captured. By way of anon-limiting example, an accelerometer may provide device motioninformation, comprising velocity and/or acceleration vectorsrepresentative of motion of the capture apparatus 130; the gyroscope mayprovide orientation information describing the orientation of thecapture apparatus 130, the GPS sensor may provide GPS coordinates, time,identifying the location of the capture apparatus 130; and the altimetermay obtain the altitude of the capture apparatus 130. In someimplementations, internal metadata module 144 may be rigidly coupled tothe capture apparatus 130 housing such that any motion, orientation orchange in location experienced by the capture apparatus 130 is alsoexperienced by the sensors of metadata module 144. The sensor controller140 and/or processor 132 may be operable to synchronize various types ofinformation received from the metadata sources. For example, timinginformation may be associated with the sensor data. Using the timinginformation metadata information may be related to content (photo/video)captured by the image sensor 136. In some implementations, the metadatacapture may be decoupled form video/image capture. That is, metadata maybe stored before, after, and in-between one or more video clips and/orimages. In one or more implementations, the sensor controller 140 and/orthe processor 132 may perform operations on the received metadata togenerate additional metadata information. For example, themicrocontroller may integrate the received acceleration information todetermine the velocity profile of the capture apparatus 130 during therecording of a video. In some implementations, video information mayconsist of multiple frames of pixels using any applicable encodingmethod (e.g., H262, H.264, H.265, Cineform and/or other standard).

The capture apparatus 130 may include electronic storage 138. Theelectronic storage 138 may comprise a system memory module is configuredto store executable computer instructions that, when executed by theprocessor 132, perform various camera functionalities including thosedescribed herein. The electronic storage 138 may comprise storage memoryconfigured to store content (e.g., metadata, images, audio) captured bythe capture apparatus 130.

The electronic storage 138 may include non-transitory memory configuredto store configuration information and/or processing code configured toenable, e.g., video information, metadata capture and/or to produce amultimedia stream comprised of, e.g., a video track and metadata inaccordance with the methodology of the present disclosure. In one ormore implementations, the processing configuration may comprise capturetype (video, still images), image resolution, frame rate, burst setting,white balance, recording configuration (e.g., loop mode), audio trackconfiguration, and/or other parameters that may be associated withaudio, video and/or metadata capture. Additional memory may be availablefor other hardware/firmware/software needs of the capture apparatus 130.The processing module 132 may interface to the sensor controller 140 inorder to obtain and process sensory information for, e.g., objectdetection, face tracking, stereo vision, and/or other tasks.

The processing component 132 may interface with the mechanical,electrical sensory, power, and user interface 146 modules via driverinterfaces and/or software abstraction layers. Additional processing andmemory capacity may be used to support these processes. It will beappreciated that these components may be fully controlled by theprocessing module 132. In some implementation, one or more componentsmay be operable by one or more other control processes (e.g., a GPSreceiver may comprise a processing apparatus configured to provideposition and/or motion information to the processor 132 in accordancewith a given schedule (e.g., values of latitude, longitude, andelevation at 10 Hz)).

The memory and processing capacity may aid in management of processingconfiguration (e.g., loading, replacement), operations during a startup,and/or other operations. Consistent with the present disclosure, thevarious components of the system may be remotely disposed from oneanother, and/or aggregated. For example, one or more sensor componentsmay be disposed distal from the capture device, e.g., such as shown anddescribe with respect to FIG. 1A. Multiple mechanical, sensory, orelectrical units may be controlled by a learning apparatus vianetwork/radio connectivity.

The capture apparatus 130 may include user interface (UI) module 146.The UI module 146 may comprise virtually any type of device capable ofregistering inputs from and/or communicating outputs to a user. Thesemay include, without limitation, display, touch, proximity sensitiveinterface, light, sound receiving/emitting devices, wired/wireless inputdevices and/or other devices. The UI module 146 may include a display,one or more tactile elements (e.g., buttons and/or virtual touch screenbuttons), lights (LED), speaker, and/or other UI elements. The UI module146 may be operable to receive user input and/or provide information toa user related to operation of the capture apparatus 130.

The capture apparatus 130 may include an input/output (I/O) interfacemodule 148. The I/O interface module 148 may be configured tosynchronize the capture apparatus 130 with other cameras and/or withother external devices, such as a remote control, a second captureapparatus 130, a smartphone, a user interface device 120 of FIG. 1Aand/or a video server. The I/O interface module 148 may be configured tocommunicate information to/from various I/O components. In someimplementations the I/O interface module 148 may comprise a wired and/orwireless communications interface (e.g. WiFi, Bluetooth, USB, HDMI,Wireless USB, Near Field Communication (NFC), Ethernet, a radiofrequency transceiver, and/or other interfaces) configured tocommunicate to one or more external devices (e.g., devices 124, 122, 120in FIG. 1A and/or metadata source). In some implementations, the I/Ointerface module 148 may interface with LED lights, a display, a button,a microphone, speakers, and/or other I/O components. In one or moreimplementations, the I/O interface module 148 may interface to energysource, e.g., battery and/or DC electrical source. The communicationsinterface of the capture apparatus 130 may include one or moreconnections to external computerized devices to allow for, inter alia,configuration and/or management of remote devices e.g., as describedabove with respect to FIG. 1A and/or with respect to FIGS. 2A-2B. Theconnections may include any of the wireless or wireline interfacesdiscussed above, and further may include customized or proprietaryconnections for specific applications. In some implementations, thecommunications interface may comprise a component (e.g., a dongle),comprising an infrared sensor, a radio frequency antenna, ultrasonictransducer, and/or other communications interfaces. In one or moreimplementation, the communications interface may comprise a local (e.g.,Bluetooth, Wi-Fi) and/or broad range (e.g., cellular LTE) communicationsinterface configured to enable communications between the capture device(e.g., 110 in FIG. 1A) and a remote device (e.g., 120 in FIG. 1A).

The capture apparatus 130 may include a power system that may betailored to the needs of the application of the device. For example, fora small-sized lower power action camera, a wireless power solution (e.g.battery, solar cell, inductive (contactless) power source,rectification, and/or other) may be used.

When presenting content obtained with a wide angle image capture device(e.g., capture apparatus 130 of FIG. 1A) content images may be adapted(e.g., transformed) for a given presentation FOV_P. Presentation FOV maybe determined using a trigonometric relationship between dimensions of adisplay (e.g., width) and viewing distance.

In some implementations, display dimensions and/or viewing distance maybe pre-configured. By way of an illustration, when setting up hometheater, a user may specify display size, and/or typical viewingdistance. In some implementations display dimensions may be deduced frommodel of the display device: e.g., Panasonic TC65CX400 model may bedecoded into 65 inch display size; iPhone 5S screen size may be obtainedfrom a depository (e.g., a list and/or a table). In one or moreimplementations, display size may be obtained as a part of a sessionbetween the display device (e.g., 336 in FIG. 3 and/or 962 in FIG. 9B)and content provision entity (e.g., apparatus 332 in FIG. 3 and/or 942in FIG. 9B). In some implementations, display size may be obtained as apart of configuration of the display device, e.g., using methods ofoperating system, e.g., getDrawableForDensity (int id, int density),DisplayMetrics( ).

FIG. 2A illustrates presentation field view for some implementations ofcontent display. Configuration 200 may illustrate viewing of content bya user 202 on a portable device 210 (e.g., smartphone). Arrow 204denotes viewing distance (e.g., between 200 and 750 mm, 400 mm in someimplementations). Curve 206 denotes longitudinal FOV_P. Configuration220 in FIG. 2A may illustrate viewing of content by a user on a HDTV230. Arrow 224 denotes viewing distance (e.g., between 1 m and 3 m insome implementations). Curve 226 denotes longitudinal FOV_P.Configuration 240 in FIG. 2A may illustrate viewing of content by a useron a personal computer monitor 250. Arrow 244 denotes viewing distance(e.g., between 0.3 m and 1 m in some implementations). Curve 246 denoteslongitudinal FOV_P. Table 1 (below) illustrates several exemplary FOV_P.

In some implementations, the viewing distance may be determined usingsensor information. FIG. 2B illustrates determination of a viewingdistance using sensor information. A display device 310 of FIG. 2B mayinclude a sensor 312, such as ultrasonic proximity sensor, structuredlight sensor, and/or other sensor. The sensor 312 may irradiateenvironment using pressure and/or electromagnetic waves, depicted bysolid curves 314 in FIG. 2B. In some implementations, wherein the sensor312 may include structured light sensor, the waves 314 may includeprojected light patterns that may be generated using laser interferenceand/or projection methodology. The sensor 312 may include a detectorcomponent that may detect waves 316 scattered and/or reflected from anobject (e.g., viewer 202). The sensor component may be configured toevaluate transmitted and/or received patterns to determine, distance toobjects, e.g., distance 304 to the viewer 202. In one or moreimplementations wherein the display device may include a smartphone, alaptop, a tablet computer and/or other device, featuring a rear facingcamera, the sensor 312 may correspond to the rear facing camera. Thewaveforms 316 may correspond to light waves reflected from one or moreobjects (e.g., user). The display device may be configured to utilizethe rear facing camera and evaluate dimensions of viewer representationwithin received image. Using expected/nominal size of human head,distance to the viewer (304) may be obtained. It will be recognized bythose skilled in the arts that various means for determining viewingdistance may be employed, e.g., use signal strength of signalscommunicated by TV remote control (e.g., lower signal level received by,e.g., TV may correspond to longer distance to the viewer), an objectdetection device disposed remote from the viewer and/or display device(e.g., Kinect™ device), and/or other device. In some implementations,the sensor may include an IR configured to determine the object shape,size, and distance. Viewing FOV may be determined using obtained viewingdistance and display dimensions. Table 1 lists some exemplary FOVobtained on viewing distances and screen dimensions.

TABLE 1 Screen Screen Typical Typical Width Width View dist. View dist.Horiz Device inch mm inch mm FOV phone 4 90 15 381 15 HDTV 48 1219 1203048 23 VR/AR goggles 6 135 1 25 159 iPad 8 195 18 457 24 iPad mini 6159 10 254 35 laptop 12 305 18 457 37 PC 24 610 30 762 44 Cinema 60015240 600 15240 53 Cinema (front row) 600 15240 250 6350 100 Projector100 2540 72 1829 70 Projector 100 2540 120 3048 45 IMAX 866 22000 60015240 72 IMAX (front row) 866 22000 250 6350 120

FIG. 3 illustrates a system for providing content in accordance withmethodology of the present disclosure. The system 330 may include acontent provision entity 332 and a content display device 336. Thecontent provision entity 332 may include a web content depository (e.g.,YouTube, Facebook, and/or other), content streaming service (Netflix,Amazon, GoPro Channel, and/or other), a cable television note, a set-topbox, a network attached storage (NAS), a portable storage (e.g., flashmemory), a cloud storage, a server, a personal computer, a digital videorecorder (DVR), and/or other content source. The content display 336 mayinclude one or more of a portable device (e.g., smartphone, a digitalcamera, a laptop, a tablet computer), a desktop computer, a smart TV, agaming console, a video projection device, and/or other deviceconfigured to display image content. The content display 336 maycommunicate with the content provision entity via one an electroniccommunications interface 334. The interface 334 may include one or morewired interfaces (e.g., serial, USB, Thunderbolt™, HDMI, Ethernet,and/or other wired interfaces) and/or wireless interfaces (e.g., WiFi,Bluetooth, cellular, and/or other interfaces). For example, suchelectronic communication links may be established, at least in part, viaone or more networks. In some implementations, a network may comprisethe Internet and/or may employ other communications technologies and/orprotocols. By way of non-limiting example, the interface 334 may employcommunication technologies including one or more of Ethernet, 802.11,worldwide interoperability for microwave access (WiMAX), 3G, Long TermEvolution (LTE), digital subscriber line (DSL), asynchronous transfermode (ATM), InfiniBand, PCI Express Advanced Switching, and/or othercommunication technologies. By way of non-limiting example, theinterface 334 may employ networking protocols including one or more ofmultiprotocol label switching (MPLS), transmission controlprotocol/Internet protocol (TCP/IP), User Datagram Protocol (UDP),hypertext transport protocol (HTTP), simple mail transfer protocol(SMTP), file transfer protocol (FTP), and/or other networking protocols.

The content display device 336 may request content via the interface334. In some implementations, the content provision entity 332 may beconfigured to store imaging content using FOV at capture, e.g., FOV_C ofthe capture apparatus 130 of FIG. 1A. The imaging content may includeinformation related to curvature of the lens used to capture content,e.g., using metadata track and/or session container, e.g., such asdescribed in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 15/001,038 entitled“METADATA CAPTURE APPARATUS AND METHODS” filed on 19 Jan. 2016, theforegoing being incorporated herein by reference in its entirety. Lenscurvature information may be used to obtain FOC_C.

Content display device 336 may be configured to transform images of thecontent in accordance with FOV_P using methodology of the disclosure. Insome implementations the transformation may include curve to rectilineartransformation configured as follow:output=Curve2Rectilinear(input,strength);  (Eqn. 5)where strength=S(FOV_P/FOV_C);  (Eqn. 6)

In some implementations, image transformation may be configured in ageneralized form as follows:output=CurvatureTransformation(input,strength);  (Eqn. 7)where strength=S(Target_FOV,Input_FOV);  (Eqn. 8)where, CurvatureTransformation is a transformation configured totransform curvature of input image based on a strength parameter; thestrength parameter may be configured based on input image FOV and targetFOV.

Using transformation of Eqn. 5-Eqn. 6 and/or Eqn. 7-Eqn. 8 contentobtained at wide FOV (e.g., greater than 90°) may be projected fornarrower FOV (e.g., less than 60° in some implementations) displaysusing less curvature compared to solutions of the prior art. Configuringthe image transformation in accordance with the viewing distance mayenable obtaining images with less distortion and/or provide greater userexperience compared to existing solutions. As may be seen from Eqn.5-Eqn. 6, when viewing field of view matches capture field of view thetransformation comprises curve-to-rectilinear transformation operation.

In some implementations, transformation of Eqn. 5-Eqn. 6 and/or Eqn.7-Eqn. 8 may be used to obtain images characterized by greater curvaturewhen viewing FOV is substantially smaller (e.g., less than 30%) of thecapture FOV. Using the transformation of Eqn. 5-Eqn. 6 image curvaturemay be reduced as the viewer FOV approaches the capture FOV (FOV_Pincreases). The output of the transformation may provide a rectilinearimage when the presentation FOV matches the capture FOV. In someimplementations, a projection may be determined for FOV_P and/or FOV_Ccombination. In some implementations, such projection may be referred toas optimal or ideal projection for given FOV_P.

When viewing FOV is smaller (e.g., less than 60° in one implementation)compared to the capture FOV, curvature of the original image (e.g.,fish-eye look) may be preserved for viewing. Producing an output imagecharacterized by greater curvature (e.g., compared to rectilinear image)may aid in presentation of imaging content when the disparity betweenviewing FOV and capture FOV may be substantial (e.g., in excess 50°and/or 50%).

In some implementations, target curvature may be determined based on agiven viewing FOV. Capture FOV and/or lens curvature may be configuredbased on one or more target viewing configurations. In one or moreimplementations, lens curvature may be configured based on widest targetviewing FOV. By way of a non-limiting illustration, images captured witha lens with FOV_C of 120° may be transformed for viewing at view angles(FOV_P) between 10° and 110°; images captured with a lens with FOV)C of160° may be transformed for viewing at view angles between 10° and 150°FOV_P.

In one implementation, imaging content may be captured using 120° lensand may be viewed at about 120° FOV (e.g., in the front row on an iMAXtheater), the transformation Eqn. 5 Eqn. 6 and/or Eqn. 7-Eqn. 8 may beused to obtain an output image characterized by practically absent (ornegligible) curvature. Operation of Eqn. 5 Eqn. 6 may be referred to asremoving curvature from the source image when viewing FOV may bematching the capture FOV. It is noteworthy, that when the same image(e.g., captured using 120° lens) may be viewed at smaller FOV (e.g.,such as listed in Table 1) the transformation Eqn. 5 Eqn. 6 may be usedto obtain output imaged for one or more target viewing FOVs. In someimplementations, the transformation Eqn. 7-Eqn. 8 may be used to adaptimaging content for viewing on a curved screen (e.g., iMAX, movietheater, curved HDTV).

FIG. 10 illustrates lens and sensor configuration of an activity captureapparatus of, e.g., FIGS. 1A-1B, in accordance with someimplementations. In some implementations, a fish-eye lens of incombination with a 4×3 aspect ratio 10.5 mm (1/2.3-inch) imaging sensorused in capture devices may be configured to obtain 120° horizontal FOV;diagonal FOV may be between 150° and 170°. To obtain images with captureFOV in excess of 130° horizontally, multiple images obtained withmultiple lenses may be stitched together. It will be recognized by thoseskilled in the arts that above values are exemplary and a variety ofcapture configurations may be utilized with the methodology of thedisclosure. In some implementations, image transformation methodologydescribed herein may be used to transform any imaging content (includingpreviously transformed) for a target FOV.

In some implementations, use of wide angle capture FOV may be configuredto obtain imaging content with reduced apparent motion. Transformationof images from a wide FOV to a narrower presentation FOV may be used toreduce apparent motion, thereby obtaining motion stabilized videocontent compared to a rectilinear content and/or content captured with anarrow FOV. The transformation of, e.g., Eqn. 5-Eqn. 6 and/or Eqn.7-Eqn. 8 may provide for video content wherein camera motion becomesmore stable. Angle motion (camera shake and pans) may be less pronouncedwith a small viewer FOV. FIG. 11 presents image edge motion as afunction of capture field of view in accordance with someimplementations. In FIG. 11 curve denoted with solid rectanglesrepresents stereographic fish-eye lens, curve denoted with diamondsrepresents rectilinear lens. As may be seen from data shown in FIG. 11,a fish-eye lens produces lower object motion for horizontal FOV ofgreater than about 60° compared to a rectilinear lens. In other words,for a fish-eye lens, the wider the lens FOV, the slower the objectmotion due to camera motion. Methodology of the disclosure may beutilized to reduce apparent object motion when capturing content from amoving platform (e.g., on-person camera, camera installed on a vehicle).Data presented in FIG. 11 characterize a narrow viewer FOV, where theedge speed dominate. For a larger viewer FOV, the center speed mayincrease slower. Utilizing image transformation based on the viewer FOVmay enable provision of video content that may be matched (e.g., amountof curvature and/or object motion within the image) to viewingconditions thereby improving user viewing experience.

In some implementations, image transformation using, e.g., Eqn. 5-Eqn. 6and/or Eqn. 7-Eqn. 8 may be effectuated by the content display device336 as a part of content playback. Field of view of the playback may bedetermined using device screen size and viewing distance using anyapplicable methodologies including these described herein.

In one or more implementations, image transformation may be effectuatedby the content provision entity 332 prior to or as a part of contentdelivery. Content provision entity 332 may be configured to requestdevice type and/or screen size of the content display device 336.Nominal and/or measured viewing distance may be used to determine FOV_P.By way of an illustration, it may be determined that the content displaydevice 336 corresponds to iPhone 5. Content provision entity 332 mayaccess information related to iPhone 5 screen size (e.g., 90 mm by 50mm) and typical viewing distance (e.g., 380 mm) thereby producing FOV_Pof 15°. In some implementations the viewing distance and/or the viewingangle may be obtained during image viewing (e.g., in real time) suchthat the viewing distortion curve may be adapted in be varied duringcontent presentation. For example, if the viewer is moving the iPhonescreen closer to/farther from his eyes, the distortion curve may bevaried in real-time to provide the best viewing experience. Images ofthe imaging content may be transformed by the content provision entity332 using Eqn. 5-Eqn. 6 and/or Eqn. 7-Eqn. 8 prior to transmission viainterface 334.

In one or more implementation, the content provision entity 332 may beconfigured for multiple versions of content. Individual versions may beencoded for a given resolution (e.g., 4K, HD, smartphone, and/or otherimage resolution) and/or given field of view. By way of a non-limitingillustration, HD content may be transformed to match expected HDTV FOV_P(e.g., 25°-35° in some implementations); content for display onsmartphones and/or tablet devices may be encoded using 1280×720resolution images transformed for expected FOV_P (e.g., between 15° and25°, 20° in some implementations). In one or more implementations,display size of the content display device 336 may be provided to thecontent provision entity 332 as a part of a session between the displaydevice and content provision entity. In one or more implementations, itmay be beneficial to convert the capture distortion to multiple viewingdistortion curve variations simultaneously before transcoding todifferent resolutions. The content for a given resolution may betransmitted based on the which device is requesting the video. One ormore target transformations for a given device (e.g., such as given inTable 1) and view angle may be obtained beforehand (in the cloud) andstored as a look-up table (LUT), so the viewer may be provided with bestviewing experience. In some implementations, display size may beobtained as a part of configuration of the display device, e.g., usingmethods of operating system, e.g., getDrawableForDensity (int id, intdensity), DisplayMetrics( ).

FIG. 4 illustrates image transformation to rectilinear representation inaccordance with one implementation. Panel 400 in FIG. 4 depicts an imagein curved (e.g., fish-eye) representation; panel 410 depicts image inrectilinear representation. As may be seen from FIG. 4, transformation402 may be configured to transform fish-eye image to rectilinear image,thereby reducing and/or altogether removing fish-eye image distortion.

FIGS. 5A-5B present images depicting different image representations inaccordance with one implementation. FIG. 5A illustrates an imageobtained using equidistant “fish-eye” (e.g., of Eqn. 1) with 150°horizontal capture FOV. FIG. 5B illustrates output of the transformationoperation of Eqn. 5, wherein the input image corresponds the image ofFIG. 5A; the strength parameter of the transformation (e.g., describedby Eqn. 6) is obtained for viewing FOV of 40° and 150° horizontalcapture FOV. As may be seen from a comparison of images in FIGS. 5A-5Bwhen viewed on a PC and/or a laptop (FOV_P and FOV_C do not match),objects in the original wide angle of view image may appear moredistorted (e.g., squashed horizontally) near left/right edges of theimage in FIG. 5A. The image of FIG. 5B that is adapted for viewing on aPC and/or a laptop (e.g., at viewing FOV of 40°) may appear lessdistorted.

FIGS. 6A-6F are simulated images depicting distortion for differentimage representations and presentation field of view, in accordance withsome implementations. The images shown in FIGS. 6A-6F may include imagesthat are shown at the edge of a screen (e.g., edge of a display). Theperceived distortions may be due to projection (e.g., rectilinear,stereographic), placement of the object within the image, and/or otherimage characteristics. Images near the edge of a screen may be distortedmore from the capture to presentation FOV mismatch. FIGS. 6D-6F presentsimulated images obtained using a stereographic fisheye lens curvatureand projected for different observer positions (different FOV_P) asfollows: FIG. 6D is configured to represent the image as viewed on asmartphone with 20° FOV_P; FIG. 6E is configured to represent the imageas viewed in front of a movie theater, e.g., at about 60° FOV_P; FIG. 6Fis configured to represent the image as viewed in front of an IMAXtheater, e.g., at about 120° FOV_P. Images presented in FIGS. 6D-6F areproduced without curvature transformation of the present disclosure.

Images of the top row (e.g., FIGS. 6A-6C) present images obtained with arectilinear lens when viewed at different FOV_P as follows: FIG. 6A isconfigured to represent the image as viewed on a smartphone with 20°FOV_P; FIG. 6B is configured to represent the image as viewed in frontof a movie theater, e.g., at about 60° FOV_P; FIG. 6C is configured torepresent the image as viewed in front of an IMAX theater, e.g., atabout 120° FOV_P.

In order to implement image transformation methodology of the disclosurethe following methodology may be employed. During (or as a part of)image capture, information related to lens curvature may be obtained andstored with the content. In some implementations, lens curvature may becharacterized by coefficients for a polynomial (e.g., second order,third order, or other order) used to describe camera lens. In someimplementations, lens curvature information may be obtained from a lensinformation depository, (e.g., a table).

In some implementations of image content editing and/or summarygeneration, final edited images and/or video summary may be encodedusing capture FOV; lens information (used in capture) may be embeddedwithin the final video and/or images using, e.g., the metadata tracksuch as described in detail in U.S. patent application Ser. No.14/920,427 entitled “APPARATUS AND METHODS FOR EMBEDDING METADATA INTOVIDEO STREAM” filed on 22 Oct. 2015, incorporated supra and/or acontainer structure such as described in detail in U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 15/001,038, entitled “METADATA CAPTURE APPARATUSAND METHODS” filed on 19 Jan. 2016, incorporated supra.

In some implementations of image content display on a client device,type of client device is determined. Client device type may bedetermined automatically. Display size of the client device may bedetermined. In some implementations, the display size determination maybe configured based on a pre-configured depository relating device model(e.g., iPhone 6S) and display size. In one or more implementations, thedisplay size may be obtained by the content playback application usingan API of the device operating system (e.g., getDisplayMetrics( ).xdpi,method that may to return dpi of the device display).

Viewing FOV for the display of content may be determined based on devicescreen size for the device (e.g., 100 mm) and nominal viewing distance(e.g., 0.4 m). In some implementations, viewing distance may bedetermined as a part of content playback using sensor information, e.g.such as described above with respect to FIG. 2B. Content playbackapplication may utilize FOV_P information to transform images of thecontent for the appropriate viewing FOV in accordance with, e.g., Eqn.5-Eqn. 6 and/or Eqn. 7-Eqn. 8.

In some implementations, video content stored on at a content source(e.g., a server, a NAS, social media depository, e.g., YouTube) may betransformed for several typical viewing profiles (FOV), e.g., a phone, atablet, a computer, a HDTV at one or more viewing distances, and/orother profile. Viewing FOV may be determined based on a nominal screensize for the device (e.g., 1.2 m for 48 inch HDTV, 100 mm for a phone)and nominal viewing distance (e.g., 1.8 m for the HDTV, 0.4 m for aphone). Multiple encoded versions of the content, configured for atarget viewing FOV may be stored on the content source. During playback,a client device may request content. Type of the client device and/orviewing profile (e.g., FOV_P) may be determined. Client device type maybe determined automatically and/or a user may be prompted to specify thetype (e.g., tablet, PC, phone). Screen size of the client device may bedetermined using a model number, a database of devices, user providedinformation (e.g., during initial setup/registration), using API of anoperating system. Viewing distance may be determined. In someimplementations, the viewing distance device may be determined using atypical configuration (e.g., PC at 0.9 m), obtained using sensorinformation, e.g., such as described with respect to FIG. 2B, based onuser provided information (e.g., during initial setup/registration),and/or other approaches. Viewing profile (e.g., FOV_P) may bedetermined. Version of the content transformed for the viewing profile(e.g., smartphone) may be provided.

FIGS. 7-8C illustrate methods 700, 800, 820, 840 for imagetransformation for viewing field of view in accordance with someimplementations of the present disclosure. The operations of methods700, 800, 820, 840 presented below are intended to be illustrative. Insome implementations, methods 700, 800, 820, 840 may be accomplishedwith one or more additional operations not described, and/or without oneor more of the operations discussed. Additionally, the order in whichthe operations of methods 700, 800, 820, 840 are illustrated in FIGS.7-8C and described below is not intended to be limiting.

In some implementations, methods 700, 800, 820, 840 may be implementedin one or more processing devices (e.g., a digital processor, an analogprocessor, a digital circuit designed to process information, an analogcircuit designed to process information, a state machine, and/or othermechanisms for electronically processing information). The one or moreprocessing devices may include one or more devices executing some or allof the operations of methods 700, 800, 820, 840 in response toinstructions stored electronically on an electronic storage medium. Theone or more processing devices may include one or more devicesconfigured through hardware, firmware, and/or software to bespecifically designed for execution of one or more of the operations ofmethods 700, 800, 820, 840. Operations of methods 700, 800, 820, 840 maybe effectuated by one or more devices and/or computerized systemsincluding these described with respect to FIGS. 1A-1B and/or FIGS.9A-9B.

FIG. 7 illustrates a method of image content presentation using imagetransformation methodology of the disclosure, in accordance with oneimplementation. Method 700 of FIG. 7 may be implemented by, e.g., system900 of FIG. 9A and/or apparatus 942 of FIG. 9B.

At operation 702 of method 700 imaging content may be accessed. In oneor more implementations, the imaging content may include video, sequenceof images (e.g., time-lapse and/or burst), and/or one or more individualimages. Imaging content may be captured by a capture device (e.g., 130).The imaging content may be characterized by a capture FOV and a captureprojection. In one or more implementations, the FOV_C may be configuredbetween 60° and 360°; the capture projection may include a fish eyeprojection (e.g., of Eqn. 1, Eqn. 2, Eqn. 3, Eqn. 4 and/or other curvedprojection). In some implementations, methodology of the disclosure maybe adapted for use with a curved display (e.g., a curved displaysmartphone, 4K TV, iMAX screen, movie theater screen, cylindricaldisplay, spherical display, and/or other device. By way of anillustration, a curved screen may be configured to present content atmore than 180° (e.g., FOV_P>180°); an imagining sphere and/or a cylindermay be configured to present content with 360 FOV_P. It is noteworthythat in the latter implementation the transformation of Eqn. 5 may beadapted to provide output images using a projection other thanrectilinear (e.g., equirectangular) while adapting image curvature forcapture and presentation FOV.

At operation 704 a target FOV may be determined. In someimplementations, the target FOV may be associated with displaying imagesof the imaging content on a content display device, e.g., user interfacedevice 120 of FIG. 1A, apparatus 902 of FIG. 9A, and/or device 962 ofFIG. 9B. In one or more implementations, the target FOV may bedetermined in accordance with display dimensions of the display deviceand/or viewing distance. In one or more implementations, multiple targetFOV may be determined e.g., in order to target multiple target viewingdevice (e.g., HDTV, smartphone, PC, tablet computer as shown anddescribed with respect to FIG. 2A, and/or other configurations). In someimplementations, multiple viewing configurations may be associated witha given display device (e.g., HDTV in a large room may be characterizedby a narrower FOV_P (e.g., 25°) while the same HDTV disposed in asmaller room (smaller viewing distance) may be characterized by a widerFOV_P (e.g., 40°).

At operation 708 a transformation operation may be obtained. In one ormore implementations, the transformation operation may be configured totransform images of the imaging content from the capture projection to atarget projection; the transformation operation may be obtained based onthe capture FOV and the target FOV, e.g., using methodology of Eqn.5-Eqn. 6 and/or Eqn. 7-Eqn. 8 described herein. In one or moreimplementations, multiple transformation operations (e.g., targetingmultiple display devices and/or multiple viewing configurations) may bedetermined. By way of an illustration, a transformation may bedetermined for smartphone as the target viewing device, HDTV at a givendistance as the target viewing configuration, a PC as the target viewingdevice, and/or other configurations.

At operation 710 source images of the imaging content may be transformedusing the transformation obtained at operation 708. The transformationmay be configured to obtain transformed version of the contentconfigured for presentation at a given target display device and/or fora given viewing configuration. In some implementations, a given sourceimage may be transformed using multiple transformations to obtainmultiple versions of transformed content. By way of an illustration, agiven source image may be transformed for viewing on a smartphone, a PC,an HDTV at one or more viewing distances and/or other configurations.

FIG. 8A illustrates a method for obtaining transformation of imagecontent from capture projection to viewing projection, in accordancewith one implementation.

At operation 802 of method 800 field of view associated with capture ofone or more images may be obtained. In one or more implementations, thecapture FOV may be obtained on evaluation of information associated withcurvature of a lens used for capturing the one or more images. Thecurvature information may include coefficients of a polynomial and/orother polynomial representation (e.g., roots of a polynomial, ratio ofpolynomials). The lens curvature information may be stored usingmetadata, e.g., image EXIF, metadata track of a video container (e.g.,MOV, MP4), metadata of session container, and/or other approaches. Insome implementations, the FOV_C information may be stored using metadataof the content.

At operation 804 presentation FOV may be obtained based on the viewingdistance and dimensions of a viewing device

At operation 806 image transformation from capture projection to aviewing projection may be obtained. In some implementations, thetransformation may be configured based on a relationship (e.g., a ratio,etc.) between the capture FOV and the presentation FOV. In one or moreimplementations the transformation may be configured to transform inputimage curvature to output image curvature based on the input image FOVand a target output FOV. In one or more implementations, a normoperation (e.g., L-2 norm and/or a higher order norm, and/or squarednormalized ratio) may be utilized when configuring image transformation.

FIGS. 8B-8B illustrate methods for obtaining transformation of imagecontent based on viewing distance, in accordance with oneimplementation.

At operation 822 source FOV of imaging content may be obtained.

At operation 824 viewing distance for presenting the content on aviewing device may be obtained.

At operation 826 viewing FOV may be obtained based on the viewingdistance and dimension of the viewing device.

At operation 828 image transformation operation may be obtained based onthe source FOV and viewing FOV.

At operation 842 of method 840 of FIG. 8C, image capture FOV of imagingcontent may be obtained using metadata portion of imaging content.

At operation 844 a dimension of a content display device may beautomatically obtained.

At operation 846 viewing distance may be automatically obtained usingsensor information. In some implementations, the viewing distancedetermination may be effectuated using methodology described withrespect to FIG. 2B and/or FIG. 3

At operation 848 viewing FOV may be obtained based on the viewingdistance and the device dimension

At operation 850 image transformation operation from image sourceprojection may be obtained based on the capture FOV and the viewing FOV.In some implementations, the transformation operation may be configuredin accordance with Eqn. 5-Eqn. 6 and/or Eqn. 7-Eqn. 8 described herein.

FIG. 9A illustrates a computerized system for transforming imagingcontent based on viewing field of view, in accordance with oneimplementation. In some implementations, the system 900 may beconfigured to provide encoded content during content acquisition by acapture device (e.g., 130 of FIG. 1A). In one or more implementations,the system 900 may be configured to provide the content using previouslyacquired content.

The system 900 of FIG. 9A may include a processing apparatus 902 coupledto an external resource 924 via interface 920. In some implementations,the external resource may include one or more of a network attachedstorage (NAS), a portable storage (e.g., flash memory), a capture device(e.g., 130 of FIGS. 1A-1B), a cloud storage, a server, a personalcomputer, a DVR, a set top box, a content delivery network node, and/orother storage implementation.

In some implementations, the apparatus 902 may correspond to a contentdisplay device including one or more of e.g., a smartphone, a digitalcamera, a laptop, a tablet computer, a desktop computer, a smart TV, agaming console, a client computing platform, and/or other platforms, acapture device (e.g., a camera), and/or other device. In someimplementations, the system 900 may include multiple capture devices,e.g., configured for obtaining panoramic content e.g., such as describedin U.S. patent application Ser. No. 14/927,343 entitled “APPARATUS ANDMETHODS FOR ROLLING SHUTTER COMPENSATION FOR MULTI-CAMERA SYSTEMS” filedon 29 Oct. 2015, incorporated supra.

The interface 920 may include one or more wired interfaces (e.g.,serial, USB, Thunderbolt™, HDMI, Ethernet, coaxial cable, and/or otherwired interfaces) and/or wireless interfaces (e.g., WiFi, Bluetooth,cellular, and/or other interfaces). For example, such electroniccommunication links may be established, at least in part, via one ormore networks. In some implementations, a network may comprise theInternet and/or may employ other communications technologies and/orprotocols. By way of non-limiting example, the interface 920 may employcommunication technologies including one or more of Ethernet, 802.11,worldwide interoperability for microwave access (WiMAX), 3G, Long TermEvolution (LTE), digital subscriber line (DSL), asynchronous transfermode (ATM), InfiniBand, PCI Express Advanced Switching, and/or othercommunication technologies. By way of non-limiting example, theinterface 920 may employ networking protocols including one or more ofmultiprotocol label switching (MPLS), transmission controlprotocol/Internet protocol (TCP/IP), User Datagram Protocol (UDP),hypertext transport protocol (HTTP), simple mail transfer protocol(SMTP), file transfer protocol (FTP), and/or other networking protocols.

Information exchanged over the interface 920 may be represented usingformats including one or more of hypertext markup language (HTML),extensible markup language (XML), and/or other formats. One or moreexchanges of information between entities of system 900 may be encryptedusing encryption technologies including one or more of secure socketslayer (SSL), transport layer security (TLS), virtual private networks(VPNs), Internet Protocol security (IPsec), and/or other encryptiontechnologies. In some implementations, one or more entities of system900 may use custom and/or dedicated data communications technologiesinstead of, or in addition to, the ones described above.

The apparatus 902 may include one or more physical processors 904configured by machine-readable instructions 906 and/or other components.Executing the machine-readable instructions 906 may cause the one ormore physical processors 904 to effectuate imaging contenttransformation using methodology of the disclosure. The machine-readableinstructions 906 may include one or more of content access component907, an capture FOV component 908, viewing FOV component 910, an imagetransformation component 912, a content presentation component 914,and/or other components.

One or more features and/or functions of the apparatus 902 may befacilitation of video content presentation and/or provision of content.It is noted that although the present disclosure is directed to videosand/or video clips, one or more other implementations of system 900and/or apparatus 902 may be configured for other types of media items.By way of non-limiting example, other types of media items may includeone or more of audio files (e.g., music, podcasts, audio books, and/orother audio files), documents, photos, multimedia presentations, digitalpurchases of goods and services, and/or other media items.

The apparatus 902 may include communication lines or ports to enable theexchange of information with a network (e.g., 920) and/or other entities(e.g., 924). Illustration of apparatus 902 in FIG. 9A is not intended tobe limiting. The apparatus 902 may include a plurality of hardware,software, and/or firmware components operating together to provide thefunctionality attributed herein to apparatus 902. For example, theapparatus 902 may be implemented by a cloud of computing platformsoperating together as apparatus 902.

The apparatus 902 may include electronic storage 918. Electronic storage918 may comprise electronic storage media that electronically storesinformation. The electronic storage media of electronic storage 918 mayinclude one or both of system storage that is provided integrally (i.e.,substantially non-removable) with apparatus 902 and/or removable storagethat is removably connectable to apparatus 902 via, for example, a portor a drive. A port may include a USB port, a Firewire port, and/or otherport. A drive may include a disk drive and/or other drive. Electronicstorage 918 may include one or more of optically readable storage media(e.g., optical disks, etc.), magnetically readable storage media (e.g.,magnetic tape, magnetic hard drive, floppy drive, and/or other magneticstorage media), electrical charge-based storage media (e.g., EEPROM,RAM, etc.), solid-state storage media (e.g., flash drive, etc.), and/orother electronically readable storage media. The electronic storage 918may include one or more virtual storage resources (e.g., cloud storage,a virtual private network, and/or other virtual storage resources). Theelectronic storage 918 may be configured to store software algorithms,information determined by processor(s) 904, information received fromapparatus 902, information received from external resource(s), and/orother information that enables apparatus 902 to function as describedherein.

The apparatus 902 may include display 916. Display 916 may includedisplay only (e.g., HDTV), touch sensitive display, digital lightprojection device, VR headset, and/or other device configured to projectand/or display images. Any applicable existing (e.g., light emittingdiode displays, organic LED (OLED), Digital Light Processing (DLP),electronic paper, MEMS display, combination thereof, multi-monitordisplay), and/or future projection technology may be utilized fordisplaying content in accordance with methodology of the disclosure.Display 916 may be coupled to the processor(s) 904 using any applicableinterface (e.g., a bus).

The system 900 may include an external resource(s) 924 operativelylinked via one or more electronic communication links 920. Externalresource(s) 924 may include sources of information, hosts, and/or otherentities outside of system 900, external entities participating withsystem 900, computing platforms, and/or other resources. In someimplementations, some or all of the functionality attributed herein tosystem 900 may be provided by resources included in external resource924.

It will be appreciated that this is not intended to be limiting and thatthe scope of this disclosure includes implementations in which apparatus902, external resources 924, and/or other entities may be operativelylinked via some other communication media.

Processor(s) 904 may be configured to provide information-processingcapabilities in apparatus 902. As such, processor 904 may include one ormore of a digital processor, an analog processor, a digital circuitdesigned to process information, an analog circuit designed to processinformation, a state machine, and/or other mechanisms for electronicallyprocessing information. Although processor 904 is shown in FIG. 9A as asingle entity, this is for illustrative purposes only. In someimplementations, processor 904 may include one or more processing units.These processing units may be physically located within a given device;the processor 904 may represent processing functionality of a pluralityof devices operating in coordination. The processor 904 may beconfigured to execute components 907, 908, 910, 912, and/or 914. Theprocessor 904 may be configured to execute components 907, 908, 910,912, and/or 914 by software; hardware; firmware; some combination ofsoftware, hardware, and/or firmware; and/or other mechanisms forconfiguring processing capabilities on processor 904.

It should be appreciated that although components 907, 908, 910, 912,and/or 914 are illustrated in FIG. 9A as being co-located within asingle processing unit, in implementations in which processor 904includes multiple processing units, one or more of components 907, 908,910, 912, and/or 914 may be located remotely from the other components.The description of the functionality provided by the different 907, 908,910, 912, and/or 914 described above is for illustrative purposes and isnot intended to be limiting, as any of components 907, 908, 910, 912,and/or 914 may provide more or less functionality than is described. Forexample, one or more of components 907, 908, 910, 912, and/or 914 may beeliminated, and some or all of its functionality may be provided byother ones of components 907, 908, 910, 912, and/or 914 and/or othercomponents. As an example, processor 904 may be configured to executeone or more additional components that may perform some or all of thefunctionality attributed below to one of components 907, 908, 910, 912,and/or 914.

In FIG. 9A, the content access component 907 may be configured to accessand/or manage image and/or audio content. In some implementations, thecontent access component 907 may be configured to effectuate image/audiocontent acquisition using any applicable methodologies including thosedescribed herein. By way of an illustration, the content accesscomponent 907 may be operable to instantiate content acquisition by thecapture apparatus 130 based on a timer event, user instruction, or asensor event. In some implementations, the content access component 907may be operable to instantiate content acquisition by a camera componentof the processing apparatus 902. In one or more implementations, thecontent access component 907 may be operable effectuate contentacquisition by a VR headset. In some implementations, the content accesscomponent 907 may be operable to access previously acquired contentfrom, e.g., electronic storage 918 and/or external resource (e.g.,external storage, and/or remote user device during content upload). Theoperations performed by the content access component 907 may includeinformation timestamping, adjustment of data rate, transcoding, postprocessing (e.g., adjusting white balance, sharpening, contrast, gammaand/or other parameters), trimming, and/or other operations. In someimplementations, the image/audio content and the metadata may be storedin a multimedia storage container (e.g., MP4, MOV) such as described indetail in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 14/920,427, entitled“APPARATUS AND METHODS FOR EMBEDDING METADATA INTO VIDEO STREAM” filedon 22 Oct. 2015, incorporated supra, and/or in a session container(e.g., such as described in detail in U.S. patent application Ser. No.15/001,038, entitled “METADATA CAPTURE APPARATUS AND METHODS” filed on19 Jan. 2016, incorporated supra).

In FIG. 9A capture FOV component 908 may be configured to obtain fieldof view corresponding to images of the content accessed by contentaccess component 907. In some implementations, the image FOV_C may beobtained by decoding of lens FOV, and/or lens curvature informationstored in, e.g., a metadata portion of a video container, e.g., asdescribed in above cited application '427 and/or application '038,incorporated supra. In one or more implementation, the capture FOVcomponent 908 may be configured to access information related to acapture device used to obtain image content, e.g., a database and/or atable containing information related to a camera model and lenscharacteristics (e.g., lens FOV, and/or lens curvature).

In FIG. 9A, viewing FOV component 910 may be configured to effectuateobtaining field of view associated with viewing of the content accessedby content access component 907. In some implementations, the FOV_P maybe obtained by accessing information related to display device (e.g.,nominal viewing FOV for given display device, e.g., 25° FOV_P for aniPad). In one or more implementations, the viewing FOV component 910 maybe configured to determine FOV_P based on dimensions of display used forpresenting the content (e.g., dimensions of display 916) and viewingdistance. Viewing distance may be obtained using a nominal (typicalvalue), and/or user input value. In some implementations, viewingdistance may be obtained using sensor information, e.g., rear facingcamera, ultrasonic range sensor, a structured light sensor, and/or otherapproaches.

In FIG. 9A, image transformation component 912 may be configured toobtain a transformation operation configured to adapt imaging contentfrom capture FOV to viewing FOV using methodology of the disclosure,e.g., Eqn. 5-Eqn. 6 and/or Eqn. 7-Eqn. 8. The image transformationcomponent 912 may be further configured to transform individual imagesof the content accessed via content access component 907 in accordancewith the viewing FOV. In some implementations of transforming videocontent, individual images of video stream may be decoded (e.g., using aH.264, H.265 video decoder and/or other decoder). Decoded images may betransformed using, e.g., Eqn. 5.

In FIG. 9A, content presentation component 914, may be configured toprovide transformed content. The transformed content provision mayinclude storing transformed images on a storage component (e.g.,electronic storage 918) for viewing; broadcasting content, and/orotherwise delivering content to one or more destinations (e.g., theexternal resource 924 (e.g., cloud content storage)). In someimplementations, transformed content provision may include communicationof the transformed images to the display 916.

FIG. 9B illustrates a computerized content presentation systemconfigured to implement image transformation methodology of thedisclosure, in accordance with one implementation. The system 940 ofFIG. 9B may include a processing apparatus 942 configured to implementimage transformation methodology of the disclosure coupled to a display962 via interface 960.

In some implementations, the processing apparatus 942 may correspond toa content server (e.g., Netflix, YouTube, Facebook, and/or otherserver). The display 962 may include one or more of e.g., a smartphone,a laptop computer, a tablet computer, a desktop computer, a smart TV, agaming console, a digital projector, and/or other display deviceimplementation. The display 962 may include display only (e.g., HDTV),touch sensitive display, digital light projection device, VR headset,and/or other device configured to project and/or display images. Anyapplicable existing (e.g., light emitting diode displays, organic LED(OLED), Digital Light Processing (DLP), electronic paper, MEMS display,combination thereof, multi-monitor display), and/or future projectiontechnology may be utilized for displaying content in accordance withmethodology of the disclosure

The interface 960 may include one or more wired interfaces (e.g.,serial, USB, Thunderbolt™, HDMI, Ethernet, coaxial cable, and/or otherwired interfaces) and/or wireless interfaces (e.g., WiFi, Bluetooth,cellular data, and/or other interfaces). For example, such electroniccommunication links may be established, at least in part, via one ormore networks. In some implementations, a network may comprise theInternet and/or may employ other communications technologies and/orprotocols. By way of non-limiting example, the interface 960 may employcommunication technologies including one or more of Ethernet, 802.11,worldwide interoperability for microwave access (WiMAX), 3G, Long TermEvolution (LTE), digital subscriber line (DSL), asynchronous transfermode (ATM), InfiniBand, PCI Express Advanced Switching, and/or othercommunication technologies. By way of non-limiting example, theinterface 960 may employ networking protocols including one or more ofmultiprotocol label switching (MPLS), transmission controlprotocol/Internet protocol (TCP/IP), User Datagram Protocol (UDP),hypertext transport protocol (HTTP), simple mail transfer protocol(SMTP), file transfer protocol (FTP), and/or other networking protocols.

Information exchanged over the interface 960 may be represented usingformats including one or more of hypertext markup language (HTML),extensible markup language (XML), and/or other formats. One or moreexchanges of information between entities of system 940 may be encryptedusing encryption technologies including one or more of secure socketslayer (SSL), transport layer security (TLS), virtual private networks(VPNs), Internet Protocol security (IPsec), and/or other encryptiontechnologies. In some implementations, one or more entities of system940 may use custom and/or dedicated data communications technologiesinstead of, or in addition to, the ones described above.

The processing apparatus 942 may include one or more physical processors944 configured by machine-readable instructions 946 and/or othercomponents. Executing the machine-readable instructions 946 may causethe one or more physical processors 944 to effectuate imaging contenttransformation using methodology of the disclosure. The machine-readableinstructions 946 may include one or more of content access component947, an capture FOV component 948, presentation FOV component 950, atransformation component 952, a distribution component 954, and/or othercomponents.

One or more features and/or functions of the processing apparatus 942may be facilitation of video content transformation and/or provision ofcontent. It is noted that although the present disclosure is directed tovideos and/or video clips, one or more other implementations of system940 and/or apparatus 942 may be configured for other types of mediaitems. By way of non-limiting example, other types of media items mayinclude one or more of audio files (e.g., music, podcasts, audio books,and/or other audio files), documents, photos, multimedia presentations,digital purchases of goods and services, and/or other media items.

The apparatus 942 may include communication lines or ports to enable theexchange of information with a network (e.g., 960) and/or other entities(e.g., 964). Illustration of apparatus 942 in FIG. 9B is not intended tobe limiting. The apparatus 942 may include a plurality of hardware,software, and/or firmware components operating together to provide thefunctionality attributed herein to apparatus 902. For example, theapparatus 942 may be implemented by a cloud of computing platformsoperating together as apparatus 942.

The apparatus 942 may include electronic storage 958. Electronic storage958 may comprise electronic storage media that electronically storesinformation. The electronic storage media of electronic storage 958 mayinclude one or both of system storage that is provided integrally (i.e.,substantially non-removable) with apparatus 942 and/or removable storagethat is removably connectable to apparatus 942 via, for example, a portor a drive. A port may include a USB port, a Firewire port, and/or otherport. A drive may include a disk drive and/or other drive. Electronicstorage 958 may include one or more of optically readable storage media(e.g., optical disks, etc.), magnetically readable storage media (e.g.,magnetic tape, magnetic hard drive, floppy drive, and/or other magneticstorage media), electrical charge-based storage media (e.g., EEPROM,RAM, etc.), solid-state storage media (e.g., flash drive, etc.), and/orother electronically readable storage media. The electronic storage 958may include one or more virtual storage resources (e.g., cloud storage,a virtual private network, and/or other virtual storage resources). Theelectronic storage 958 may be configured to store software algorithms,information determined by processor(s) 944, information received fromprocessing apparatus 942, information received from externalresource(s), and/or other information that enables apparatus 942 tofunction as described herein.

The system 940 may include an external resource(s) 964 operativelylinked via one or more electronic communication links 960. Externalresource(s) 964 may include sources of information, hosts, and/or otherentities outside of system 940, external entities participating withsystem 940, computing platforms, and/or other resources. In someimplementations, some or all of the functionality attributed herein tosystem 940 may be provided by resources included in external resource(s)964.

It will be appreciated that this is not intended to be limiting and thatthe scope of this disclosure includes implementations in whichprocessing apparatus 942, external resources 964, and/or other entitiesmay be operatively linked via some other communication media.

Processor(s) 944 may be configured to provide information-processingcapabilities in apparatus 942. As such, processor 944 may include one ormore of a digital processor, an analog processor, a digital circuitdesigned to process information, an analog circuit designed to processinformation, a state machine, and/or other mechanisms for electronicallyprocessing information. Although processor 944 is shown in FIG. 9B as asingle entity, this is for illustrative purposes only. In someimplementations, processor 944 may include one or more processing units.These processing units may be physically located within a given device;the processor 944 may represent processing functionality of a pluralityof devices operating in coordination. The processor 944 may beconfigured to execute components 947, 948, 950, 952, and/or 954. Theprocessor 944 may be configured to execute components 947, 948, 950,952, and/or 954 by software; hardware; firmware; some combination ofsoftware, hardware, and/or firmware; and/or other mechanisms forconfiguring processing capabilities on processor 944.

It should be appreciated that although components 947, 948, 950, 952,and/or 954 are illustrated in FIG. 9B as being co-located within asingle processing unit, in implementations in which processor 944includes multiple processing units, one or more of components 947, 948,950, 952, and/or 954 may be located remotely from the other components.The description of the functionality provided by the different 947, 948,950, 952, and/or 954 described above is for illustrative purposes and isnot intended to be limiting, as any of components 947, 948, 950, 952,and/or 954 may provide more or less functionality than is described. Forexample, one or more of components 947, 948, 950, 952, and/or 954 may beeliminated, and some or all of its functionality may be provided byother ones of components 947, 948, 950, 952, and/or 954 and/or othercomponents. As an example, processor 944 may be configured to executeone or more additional components that may perform some or all of thefunctionality attributed below to one of components 947, 948, 950, 952,and/or 954.

In FIG. 9B, the content access component 947 may be configured to accessand/or manage image and/or audio content. In some implementations, thecontent access component 947 may be configured to effectuate image/audiocontent acquisition using any applicable methodologies including thosedescribed herein. By way of an illustration, the content accesscomponent 947 may be operable to instantiate content acquisition by thecapture apparatus 130 based on a timer event, user instruction, or asensor event. In some implementations, the content access component 947may be operable to instantiate content acquisition by a camera componentof the apparatus 942. In some implementations, the content accesscomponent 947 may be operable to access previously acquired contentfrom, e.g., electronic storage 958 and/or external resource 964 (e.g.,external storage, and/or remote user device during content upload). Theoperations performed by the content access component 947 may includeinformation timestamping, adjustment of data rate, transcoding, postprocessing (e.g., adjusting white balance, sharpening, contrast, gammaand/or other parameters), trimming, and/or other operations. In someimplementations, the image/audio content and the metadata may be storedin a multimedia storage container (e.g., MP4, MOV) such as described indetail in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 14/920,427, entitled“APPARATUS AND METHODS FOR EMBEDDING METADATA INTO VIDEO STREAM” filedon 22 Oct. 2015, incorporated supra, and/or in a session container(e.g., such as described in detail in U.S. patent application Ser. No.15/001,038, entitled “METADATA CAPTURE APPARATUS AND METHODS” filed on19 Jan. 2016, incorporated supra).

In FIG. 9B capture FOV component 948 may be configured to obtain fieldof view corresponding to images of the content accessed by contentaccess component 947. In some implementations, the image FOV_C may beobtained by decoding of lens FOV, and/or lens curvature informationstored in, e.g., a metadata portion of a video container, e.g., asdescribed in above cited application '427 and/or application '038,incorporated supra. In one or more implementation, the capture FOVcomponent 948 may be configured to access information related to acapture device used to obtain image content, e.g., a database and/or atable containing information related to a camera model and lenscharacteristics (e.g., lens FOV, and/or lens curvature).

In FIG. 9B, presentation FOV component 950 may be configured to obtainfield of view associated with presentation of the content accessed bycontent access component 947. In some implementations, the FOV_P may beobtained by accessing information related to a display device (e.g.,nominal viewing FOV for given display device, e.g., 25° FOV_P for aniPad). In one or more implementations, the presentation FOV component950 may be configured to determine FOV_P based on dimensions of adisplay used for presenting the content (e.g., dimensions of display962) and a viewing distance. Viewing distance may be obtained using anominal (typical value), and/or user provided value. In someimplementations, viewing distance may be obtained using sensorinformation obtained by the display 962, e.g., rear facing camera,ultrasonic range sensor, a structured light sensor, and/or otherapproaches. In some implementations, display dimensions may be obtainedbased on executing one or more instructions of a given API, system(e.g., Android OS getDisplayMetrics( ).xdpi, method that may to returndpi of the device display).

In FIG. 9B, transformation component 952 may be configured to obtain atransformation operation configured to adapt imaging content fromcapture FOV to viewing FOV using methodology of the disclosure, e.g.,Eqn. 5-Eqn. 6 and/or Eqn. 7-Eqn. 8. The transformation component 952 maybe further configured to transform individual images of the contentaccessed via content access component 947 in accordance with the viewingFOV. In some implementations of transforming video content, individualimages of video stream may be decoded (e.g., using a H.264, H.265 videodecoder and/or other decoder). Decoded images may be transformed using,e.g., Eqn. 5.

In FIG. 9B, a distribution component 954, may be configured to providetransformed content. The transformed content provision may includestoring transformed images on the storage component 958 for subsequentviewing; providing transformed images to external storage (e.g.,component 958) for storing/viewing, broadcasting content, and/orotherwise delivering content to one or more destinations (e.g., cloudcontent storage). In some implementations, transformed content provisionmay include communication of the transformed images to the display 962.

Where certain elements of these implementations can be partially orfully implemented using known components, only those portions of suchknown components that are necessary for an understanding of the presentdisclosure are described, and detailed descriptions of other portions ofsuch known components are omitted so as not to obscure the disclosure.

In the present specification, an implementation showing a singularcomponent should not be considered limiting; rather, the disclosure isintended to encompass other implementations including a plurality of thesame component, and vice-versa, unless explicitly stated otherwiseherein.

Further, the present disclosure encompasses present and future knownequivalents to the components referred to herein by way of illustration.

As used herein, the term “bus” is meant generally to denote all types ofinterconnection or communication architecture that may be used tocommunicate date between two or more entities. The “bus” could beoptical, wireless, infrared or another type of communication medium. Theexact topology of the bus could be for example standard “bus”,hierarchical bus, network-on-chip, address-event-representation (AER)connection, or other type of communication topology used for accessing,e.g., different memories in a system.

As used herein, the terms “computer”, “computing device”, and“computerized device”, include, but are not limited to, personalcomputers (PCs) and minicomputers, whether desktop, laptop, orotherwise, mainframe computers, workstations, servers, personal digitalassistants (PDAs), handheld computers, embedded computers, programmablelogic device, personal communicators, tablet computers, portablenavigation aids, J2ME equipped devices, cellular telephones, smartphones, personal integrated communication or entertainment devices, orliterally any other device capable of executing a set of instructions.

As used herein, the term “computer program” or “software” is meant toinclude any sequence or human or machine cognizable steps which performa function. Such program may be rendered in virtually any programminglanguage or environment including, for example, C/C++, C#, Fortran,COBOL, MATLAB™, PASCAL, Python, assembly language, markup languages(e.g., HTML, SGML, XML, VoXML), and the like, as well as object-orientedenvironments such as the Common Object Request Broker Architecture(CORBA), Java™ (including J2ME, Java Beans), Binary Runtime Environment(e.g., BREW), and the like.

As used herein, the terms “connection”, “link”, “transmission channel”,“delay line”, “wireless” means a causal link between any two or moreentities (whether physical or logical/virtual), which enablesinformation exchange between the entities.

As used herein, the terms “integrated circuit”, “chip”, and “IC” aremeant to refer to an electronic circuit manufactured by the patterneddiffusion of trace elements into the surface of a thin substrate ofsemiconductor material. By way of non-limiting example, integratedcircuits may include field programmable gate arrays (e.g., FPGAs), aprogrammable logic device (PLD), reconfigurable computer fabrics (RCFs),systems on a chip (SoC), application-specific integrated circuits(ASICs), and/or other types of integrated circuits.

As used herein, the term “memory” includes any type of integratedcircuit or other storage device adapted for storing digital dataincluding, without limitation, ROM. PROM, EEPROM, DRAM, Mobile DRAM,SDRAM, DDR/2 SDRAM, EDO/FPMS, RLDRAM, SRAM, “flash” memory (e.g.,NAND/NOR), memristor memory, and PSRAM.

As used herein, the terms “microprocessor” and “digital processor” aremeant generally to include digital processing devices. By way ofnon-limiting example, digital processing devices may include one or moreof digital signal processors (DSPs), reduced instruction set computers(RISC), general-purpose (CISC) processors, microprocessors, gate arrays(e.g., field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs)), PLDs, reconfigurablecomputer fabrics (RCFs), array processors, secure microprocessors,application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs), and/or other digitalprocessing devices. Such digital processors may be contained on a singleunitary IC die, or distributed across multiple components.

As used herein, the term “network interface” refers to any signal, data,and/or software interface with a component, network, and/or process. Byway of non-limiting example, a network interface may include one or moreof FireWire (e.g., FW400, FW110, and/or other variation.), USB (e.g.,USB2), Ethernet (e.g., 10/100, 10/100/1000 (Gigabit Ethernet), 10-Gig-E,and/or other Ethernet implementations), MoCA, Coaxsys (e.g., TVnet™),radio frequency tuner (e.g., in-band or OOB, cable modem, and/or otherprotocol), Wi-Fi (802.11), WiMAX (802.16), PAN (e.g., 802.15), cellular(e.g., 3G, LTE/LTE-A/TD-LTE, GSM, and/or other cellular technology),IrDA families, and/or other network interfaces.

As used herein, the term “Wi-Fi” includes one or more of IEEE-Std.802.11, variants of IEEE-Std. 802.11, standards related to IEEE-Std.802.11 (e.g., 802.11 a/b/g/n/s/v), and/or other wireless standards.

As used herein, the term “wireless” means any wireless signal, data,communication, and/or other wireless interface. By way of non-limitingexample, a wireless interface may include one or more of Wi-Fi,Bluetooth, 3G (3GPP/3GPP2), HSDPA/HSUPA, TDMA, CDMA (e.g., IS-95A,WCDMA, and/or other wireless technology), FHSS, DSSS, GSM, PAN/802.15,WiMAX (802.16), 802.20, narrowband/FDMA, OFDM, PCS/DCS,LTE/LTE-A/TD-LTE, analog cellular, CDPD, satellite systems, millimeterwave or microwave systems, acoustic, infrared (i.e., IrDA), and/or otherwireless interfaces.

As used herein, the term “robot” may be used to describe an autonomousdevice, autonomous vehicle, computer, artificial intelligence (AI)agent, surveillance system or device, control system or device, and/orother computerized device capable of autonomous operation.

As used herein, the term “camera” may be used to refer to any imagingdevice or sensor configured to capture, record, and/or convey stilland/or video imagery, which may be sensitive to visible parts of theelectromagnetic spectrum and/or invisible parts of the electromagneticspectrum (e.g., infrared, ultraviolet), and/or other energy (e.g.,pressure waves).

It will be recognized that while certain aspects of the technology aredescribed in terms of a specific sequence of steps of a method, thesedescriptions are only illustrative of the broader methods of thedisclosure, and may be modified as required by the particularapplication. Certain steps may be rendered unnecessary or optional undercertain circumstances. Additionally, certain steps or functionality maybe added to the disclosed implementations, or the order of performanceof two or more steps permuted. All such variations are considered to beencompassed within the disclosure disclosed and claimed herein.

While the above detailed description has shown, described, and pointedout novel features of the disclosure as applied to variousimplementations, it will be understood that various omissions,substitutions, and changes in the form and details of the device orprocess illustrated may be made by those skilled in the art withoutdeparting from the disclosure. The foregoing description is of the bestmode presently contemplated of carrying out the principles of thedisclosure. This description is in no way meant to be limiting, butrather should be taken as illustrative of the general principles of thetechnology. The scope of the disclosure should be determined withreference to the claims.

What is claimed:
 1. A system for providing images of imaging content,the system comprising: one or more processors configured to execute aplurality of computer readable instructions configured to: access theimaging content, the imaging content characterized by a capture field ofview and a capture projection; determine a presentation field of viewfor displaying the images of the imaging content on a display based ondimensions of the display and a viewing distance between the display anda user; and transform the images of the imaging content from the captureprojection to a display projection for presentation on the display basedon the capture field of view and the presentation field of view suchthat curvature of the images are changed based on size relationshipbetween the capture field of view and the presentation field of view. 2.The system of claim 1, wherein the imaging content is characterized by afish-eye projection.
 3. The system of claim 1, wherein the viewingdistance between the display and the user is determined based on sensorinformation generated by a sensor.
 4. The system of claim 3, wherein thesensor includes a proximity sensor or a light sensor.
 5. The system ofclaim 1, wherein the viewing distance between the display and the useris determined based on a typical viewing distance associated with a typeof the client device.
 6. The system of claim 1, wherein thetransformation of the images accounts for a mismatch between size of thecapture field of view and size of the presentation field of view suchthat the curvature of the images is reduced as the size of thepresentation field of view approaches the size of the capture field ofview.
 7. The system of claim 6, wherein the transformation of the imagesincludes a curve-to-rectilinear transformation based on a match betweenthe size of the capture field of view and the size of the presentationfield of view.
 8. A method for transforming images of imaging content,the method comprising: obtaining a capture field of view of the imagingcontent using metadata of the imaging content, the imaging contentcharacterized by a capture projection; obtaining a viewing distancebetween a display and a user; obtaining a viewing field of view based onthe viewing distance and a dimension of the display; and transformingthe images of the imaging content from the capture projection to adisplay projection based on the capture field of view and the viewingfield of view such that curvature of the images are changed based onsize relationship between the capture field of view and the viewingfield of view.
 9. The method of claim 8, wherein the transformation ofthe images reduces apparent motion within the images of the imagingcontent.
 10. The method of claim 8, wherein the transformation of theimages is performed by a server.
 11. The method of claim 8, wherein thetransformation of the images is performed by a camera or a smartphone.12. The method of claim 8, wherein the transformation of the images isperformed in real-time as a function of the viewing distance between thedisplay and the user.
 13. The method of claim 12, wherein thetransformation of the images includes a first image transformation basedon a first viewing field of view and a second image transformation basedon a second viewing field of view.
 14. The method of claim 12, whereinthe viewing distance is obtained based on sensor information generatedby a proximity sensor or a light sensor.
 15. A portable content displaysystem, comprising: a display; and one or more processors configured toexecute a plurality of computer readable instructions configured to:access a source image of imaging content, the source image characterizedby a capture field of view and a capture projection; obtain apresentation field of view based on dimensions of the display and aviewing distance between the display and a user; and obtain atransformed image based on transformation of the source image from thecapture projection to a display projection, wherein the transformationof the source image is performed based on the capture field of view andthe presentation field of view such that curvature of the images arechanged based on size relationship between the capture field of view andthe presentation field of view.
 16. The portable content display systemof claim 15, wherein the transformation is performed based on a ratio ofsize of the capture field of view to size of the presentation field ofview.
 17. The portable content display system of claim 15, wherein theimaging content includes a video or a sequence of images.
 18. Theportable content display system of claim 15, wherein the capture fieldof view is obtained based on curvature information of an optical elementused to capture the imaging content.
 19. The portable content displaysystem of claim 18, wherein the curvature information includescoefficients of a polynomial representation characterizing a curvatureof the optical element.
 20. The portable content display system of claim18, wherein the curvature information is stored in metadata of theimaging content.